Matthew Kustra

Matthew Kustra

Postdoctoral fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Biography

My research integrates fieldwork, behavioral, experimental, and theoretical approaches to understand the processes that create and maintain species variation. I am currently a Miller Research Fellow at UC Berkeley in Dr. Christopher Martin’s lab. As a Miller Fellow I am exploring how natural and sexual selection interact to rapidly create many new species by developing new theoretical models and testing them with empirical work on pupfish. My PhD work was with Dr. Suzanne Alonzo at the University of California, Santa Cruz. For my dissertation, I researched how females influence the evolution of male behavior via cryptic female choice (females bias fertilization to specific males) and how cryptic female choice affects speciation. I also developed mathematical models to understand the ecological-evolutionary dynamics of microbe-host interactions in marine invertebrates.

Download my CV.

Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in material on this website are those of my own.

Interests
  • Coevolution
  • Speciation
  • Sexual Selection
  • Alternative Reproductive tactics
  • R
  • Julia
Education
  • PhD Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2024

    University of California, Santa Cruz

  • B.S in Biology and B.A. Computer Science, 2018

    University of Virginia

Publications

Other projects

 
 
 
 
 
Fisheries Data Analyst
University of California, Santa Cruz
Nov 2022 – Present California
I write R scripts to analyze and visualize fishery data. We are helping to inform California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s implementation of the Marine Life Management Act and other policies. Specifically focusing on the socioeconomic and behavioral impacts of domoic acid-related management measures on the state’s crab fisheries and seafood supply systems.
 
 
 
 
 
R Shiny web app developer
Jun 2021 – Present California
I am developing a R Shiny web app for USAID-Feed the Future Initiative project, “Increasing sustainability of fisheries for resilience of Cambodian communities.” This tool empowers community fisheries management councils in Cambodia to better assess trends in their fishery and make more informed management decisions. This web app features interactive graphs, maps, and allows users to translate between English and Khmer.
 
 
 
 
 
Investigative Research Analyst Intern
May 2018 – Aug 2018 Virginia
Characterization of the genetic signature of circulating plasma cells (PC) in Systematic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Identified candidate drugs that target this genetic signature. Investigated tissue infiltration of PC in SLE patients.
 
 
 
 
 
NSF REU Fellow
May 2017 – Aug 2017 North Carolina
Characterization of Nemtatostella vectensis (starlet sea anemone) sperm proteome and its evolution across Metazoa using bioinformatic methods including gene ontology analyses and gene tree reconstructions.